Neighborhood Change, Gentrification, and the Urbanization of College Graduates

Abstract

We study changing trends in within-city sorting by education over the last 40 years. We show that neighborhoods closest to the centers of large US cities rose from having the lowest levels of college attainment in 1980 to the highest in 2017. We discuss the determinants of changes in sorting patterns, focusing on the role of transportation technology and income growth. We outline various consequences of the recent urbanization of college graduates on neighborhood amenities, house prices, and segregation. We highlight the tendency of college graduates to cluster into select central neighborhoods, likely limiting opportunities for interactions across educational lines.